


Prove It To Me

by lost_stickie_note



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-05 03:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15161123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_stickie_note/pseuds/lost_stickie_note
Summary: Zhangjingmaythink the new freshman is cute.Oh, who is he kidding?Yanjun is super hot.





	Prove It To Me

**Author's Note:**

> Filled request!
> 
> Zhangjun makes me so happy. :) Was nice taking a break from writing smut to do some fluff.
> 
> I hope everyone likes this even though it's sort of a mess. I need to stop staying up super late to write and falling half-asleep in the middle. Woke up to find so many typos and grammar mistakes, and I totally didn't catch them all either. I even found a misspelling of Zhangjing's name, omg. 
> 
> To make my plot work, I had to shift around the ages of some of them. I apologize for that.
> 
> Shameless plug for my other Zhangjun works, 'I Will, Always', 'Practice Rooms', and 'Air of Innocence'. 
> 
> Comments, kudos, and feedback are always appreciated!
> 
> Thank you to my wonderful beta-reader, you know who you are. :)
> 
> Twitter: [@loststickienote](https://twitter.com/loststickienote)

Zhangjing is staring so hard at the field that he almost drops the girl he’s supposed to be holding up. And he can’t help himself. For the rest of practice, he steals glances over at the football team, their first practice of the year. _Fuck._ He moves too slowly to avoid the other girl moving into position, and the field is far too wet still, slicked with this morning’s rain. Zhangjing goes down, and his head is pounding so hard that he almost doesn’t hear the voice.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” His eyes flutter open, and the person he’s been staring at the whole afternoon is leaning above him, looking at him with concern. “I was on my way over to the sideline when I saw you fall. You went down pretty hard there.”

 

And his whole cheerleading team is also surrounding him, and Zhangjing feels the embarrassment all the way down to his toes. “Yeah, I’m alright. Just a bit dizzy.” He winces when he raises his head, and the other boy sticks out a hand to help him up, which he gratefully takes.

 

“Well, be careful…” The boy pauses, uncertain. “Sorry, what’s your name?”

 

“You Zhangjing.”

 

The boy smiles at him, and all Zhangjing can think is _oh my god, those dimples._ “You Zhangjing.” The boy says his name slowly, and Zhangjing almost swoons at the way his name rolls of the other boy’s tongue. “My name’s Lin Yanjun. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other if our teams always have practice at the same time.” Yanjun’s smile widens further. “I’m a freshman, and I just joined the football team today.”

 

Yanjun waves at him good-naturedly before returning on to the field, where his teammates are beckoning him, and Zhangjing numbly waves back.

 

_Well, fuck._

 

The inattention at his afternoon practice makes him extra sore afterwards. _But at least I found out his name._ It had been a long time since Zhangjing had felt such an immediate attraction to a guy. And his last relationship had gone terribly, the break-up throwing a dark cloud over all his other prospects. He had started the year thinking that he was going to swear off boys this year, trying to shake off last year’s fiasco.

 

_But that freshman is hot._

He had spent a lot of time staring at the boy’s ass during practice yesterday, tight and defined in the sports clothing. Having the time to stare at the football players’ asses is a definite perk of being a cheerleader. But he had never imagined that the face would be just as delicious. Just thinking about the boy makes him hot under the collar. “Sorry, I’m late.”

 

Zhangjing’s head snaps up when he hears the voice. _No way._ But there he is, standing at the front of the classroom, slightly out-of-breath and his clothes awry. Yanjun speaks up again. “I just got transferred into this class, and I accidentally went down the wrong hallway and couldn’t find this room.”

 

The teacher sighs with acceptance. “It’s okay. You can take a seat next to You Zhangjing.”

 

_Oh god._

Zhangjing feels his palms already getting sweaty. The other boy searches the room with his eyes until he spots Zhangjing and then smiles and waves at him. Yanjun plops down at the desk next to him and whispers under his breath. “Long time no see.”

 

And he turns to respond, and Yanjun’s eyes are mesmerizing. Zhangjing can see every detail of the other boy’s face as clear as day, from the sharp cheekbones to his full lips. And he just wants to slam his lips against Yanjun’s right there. _Omg, what’s wrong with me?_ This boy is making him feel way too much, way too soon, and Zhangjing reminds himself that he doesn’t even know if Yanjun is into boys yet.

 

“What are you doing in this class?” He hisses back. “This is a sophomore class, and you’re a freshman.”

 

Yanjun smirks at him, and he feels like he might melt into a puddle.

 

“I went to a school with a more advanced English curriculum. So they gave me a placement test, and I scored high enough to skip a grade, but only in English.”

 

_Fuck, the boy was smart too._

And Zhangjing turns back to the board, desperately trying to concentrate on the lesson instead of the boy next to him. But his mind is scattered, and frustration sets in by the end of the period. He looks down at the textbook hopelessly. He didn’t follow along well with any of the grammar rules the teacher was preaching about, and even worse, his notes in his notebook are a messy scrawl, illegible.

 

He almost falls out of his seat when he feels the tap on his shoulder.

 

And Yanjun is looking down at him, and Zhangjing needs to remind himself to breathe. _Okay, okay. You can do this._

“Do you need help with English?” The other boy frowns. “You looked sort of spaced out, like you didn’t know what you were doing.”

 

Zhangjing blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. “Yeah, I suck at English. I only barely passed the class last year.”

 

He is mentally kicking himself now. _Great, now he’s going to think you’re stupid in addition to clumsy._ The memory of Yanjun offering his hand yesterday warms his cheeks, and Zhangjing hopes the other boy doesn’t notice. Yanjun is smiling at him still though, so he supposes that he hasn’t fucked up his first impression _too_ badly. “If you want, I can tutor you in English. This level is still pretty easy for me, so I don’t think it would take up too much of my time.”

 

_Drop dead hot guy as my personal tutor? Hell yes._

Zhangjing manages to utter out a simple yes, and the younger boy smiles again. _Dear lord, those dimples are going to be the death of me._ “Okay, why don’t we meet in the library after practice? I’m assuming you have cheer practice right? Same time as our football practice?”

 

He nods. “Yeah, we can meet after practice.”

 

His inner self is still screaming with joy after Yanjun leaves the room.

 

* * *

 

 

Zhangjing nervously taps on the surface of the desk with his pencil, jiggling his leg underneath the table. He had rushed to the locker room immediately after practice to shower quickly, trying to scrub off all the sweat and dirt from his body. Not to mention, he doesn’t want Yanjun to wait for him so trying to get to the library as early as possible is the best option. _But where is he?_ Practice had ended almost an hour ago, and Yanjun still isn’t here. Zhangjing has been waiting for at least half an hour now, and students are starting to leave the library, ready to head home.

 

Finally, he spots the younger boy striding through the front doors to the library. And Yanjun’s hair is still wet from his shower, water dripping on to the shoulders of his uniform. “Sorry about the wait.” The younger boy looks stressed. “I totally should have told you that I tend to take really long showers, even after practice. I came as soon as I was finished.”

 

“No, it’s okay, really.” He reassures the other boy. “I just need to be back before 8.”

 

Yanjun pulls out the chair next to him and takes out his English workbook. “I can do that. Let’s start then.”

 

The next two hours are a grueling test of Zhangjing’s patience. Ten minutes in, and he realizes that everything he thought he knew about grammar is wrong. But Yanjun carefully starts explaining to him from scratch, working through each question with him and correcting all the mistakes in Zhangjing’s essay draft due at the end of the week.

 

“No wait, that’s wrong.” And suddenly, Yanjun’s long slender fingers are over his hand, taking the pencil away from him, brushing over his skin. It feels like he’s been burned where the other boy touched him, and worse, Yanjun starts to lean in closer in order to fix his mistake. Zhangjing is hyperaware of how close the younger boy is to him now, Yanjun’s thigh pressed up against his under the table. And he can even smell the shampoo that the other boy used, a mix of coconut and other fruit.

 

_Yanjun is too close for comfort._

The younger boy crosses something out, and now he is turning to look at Zhangjing. _Oh._ Yanjun is mere inches away from his face now, looking at him quizzically. And Zhangjing is staring at the younger boy’s lips parting slightly to ask him a question. “Does that make sense?”

 

Zhangjing doesn’t even know what the younger boy is referring to.

 

Yanjun is looking at him with a strange expression on his face now. And he starts panicking when the younger boy starts moving closer, slowly. He closes his eyes automatically, not knowing what’s going on. Yanjun is close, too close, and Zhangjing can feel the other boy breathing on his lips now. And he thinks he _feels it_. The light brush of Yanjun’s lips over his. But he can’t be sure, and when he finally has the courage to open his eyes, Yanjun is already back in his seat, acting like nothing had happened.

 

_Did I imagine it?_

* * *

 

 

Yanjun continues to tutor him in English.

 

Zhangjing continues to stare at the younger boy’s butt during practice.

 

And their days keep going.

 

He swears that Yanjun is flirting with him during their tutoring sessions, but he is never sure, just like that first day. But the younger boy seems to find every excuse to touch his hands, his fingers tracing over Zhangjing’s skin. And a few times, Zhangjing catches Yanjun leaning in too close, closer than he needs to in order to write comments on his work.

 

Zhangjing knows he shouldn’t be lusting after the younger boy.

 

Because that’s all this is, lust and initial attraction.

 

Or at least that’s what he tries to tell himself.

 

“Do you want to come to our after party on Friday?”

 

He shakes himself out from his daydream. “Huh?”

 

Yanjun smiles at him and repeats himself. “Our after party. It’s finally our first game, and the captain is hosting a huge party at night. You’re totally invited if you want to come.” And Zhangjing remembers last year when he spent a large amount of time at these parties. But he wanted to avoid them this year because inevitably his ex _will_ be there, as one of the representative popular boys of the school. And the thought makes him nervous, but he can’t stop looking at Yanjun’s hopeful face, and Zhangjing loses all common sense. “Yes, I’ll be there.”

 

The younger boy brightens, and Zhangjing hopes he hasn’t made a huge mistake.

 

He is nervous on Friday, standing outside the house at the address that Yanjun had texted to him. He had been here a few times last year since the new captain had hosted a few parties last year too. And his feet feel glued to the sidewalk, not knowing how to move forward. He lets a few more students from school pass by before he begins to walk up the porch steps.

 

_Breathe._

He is here to see Yanjun, that’s all.

 

_Breathe._

It’s going to be okay.

 

_Breathe._

Zhangjing opens the door, and he walks in, his eyes immediately scanning the crowd for Yanjun. The music is loud, and he can barely hear himself think over it. The place is packed, with students everywhere in the hallway, spilling out into the backyard. He walks further into the house, trying to decide where to check first. His feet carry him to where he remembered the living room was located, assuming that the team has gathered in the biggest open area.

 

He had cheered his ass off during the game, almost losing his voice by the end. Their school had barely won, with Yanjun scoring the winning points in the last minute. The younger boy had tried to catch his eye afterwards, and he could clearly see that Yanjun was trying to yell something at him. But the crowd had swept the younger boy up, excited about their win, and Zhangjing figured the best thing to do was to meet Yanjun at the after party.

 

And he walks into the living room spotting Yanjun almost instantly. Zhangjing can see the younger boy’s dimples all the way from where he’s standing, and he is about to call out Yanjun’s name. At almost the same time, the younger boy is leaning forward, forward to kiss another boy on the lips. He freezes, not knowing what to do. Worse, Yanjun apparently does hear his name because the younger boy turns around to look right at him.

 

Then the boy Yanjun was kissing turns too.

 

Zhangjing feels like he’s in his worst nightmare.

 

Zhengting.

 

One of the most popular boys in school, Zhengting.

 

Captain of the dance team, Zhengting.

 

Student body president, Zhengting.

 

Zhangjing’s ex, Zhengting.

 

And Zhengting is still as beautiful as he remembered, and the other boy has a surprised look on his face, his mouth opening to form words.

 

He doesn’t wait to hear them.

 

Zhangjing flees, his feet trying to put as much distance between him and Zhengting as possible, as quickly as possible. He thinks he might have heard his name, but he’s not sure, and the thought of his past catching up to him only spurs him to run faster. “Zhangjing!”

 

He comes to a halt abruptly and almost falls backwards when he feels the sharp tug on his arm. But warm arms envelop him, and his back hits Yanjun’s chest instead. The younger boy spins him around to look at him. “Why did you run out of the room so fast?”

 

The words come out before he can stop them. “Because you were kissing my ex.”

 

If he wasn’t so upset, the way Yanjun’s eyes widened almost comically would have made him laugh.

 

“Oh, shit.” The younger boy is running his hands through his hair in frustration, and Zhangjing can’t help but think that Yanjun is still as gorgeous as ever. _Even though he’s into Zhengting._ “That kiss didn’t mean anything. We were all playing Truth or Dare, and mine was to kiss Zhengting.” The younger boy looks remorseful. “I also didn’t know he was your ex.”

 

“Prove it to me.” Zhangjing doesn’t know what else to say.

 

“What?”

 

“Prove to me that it didn’t mean anything.”

 

* * *

 

 

Monday comes, and Zhangjing is nervous to see Yanjun again.

 

The younger boy walked him home, the both of them silent the whole way back.

 

He doesn’t know what to expect when Yanjun walks through the door of their English class. But the younger boy doesn’t act any differently, smiling at him brightly and greeting him. And he’s so busy staring at Yanjun that he almost misses their teacher assign books for their oral presentation next week. Which results in him staring at the younger boy blankly when Yanjun mentions the assignment to him in the library after practice.

 

“I was assigned The Great Gatsby. How about you?”

 

Zhangjing has no clue.

 

“Silly. I know you weren’t paying attention so I wrote down yours too. You have Lord of the Flies.” Zhangjing feels a shock run through him when Yanjun flicks him lightly on the forehead in a teasing way. “Next time pay attention.”

 

And the whole rest of the afternoon is bizarre. Yanjun jumping up to refill his water bottle from the water fountain in the hallway, the younger boy holding his left hand while he writes with his right, or Yanjun petting him on the head after each question he answers correctly.

 

_What is going on?_

The rest of the week passes by in the same way, and both of them begin to practice their oral presentations with each other. Zhangjing notices the way the younger boy’s voice shakes as they practice, and he wonders what’s wrong. “Are you okay Yanjun?”

 

Yanjun looks at him uneasily. “I’m actually scared of public speaking. I really hate it.”

 

He’s never had a similar problem, enjoying the thought of performing, cheering in front of large crowds. And Zhangjing feels bad for the younger boy. _Maybe Yanjun does have some weaknesses._ The thought only makes Zhangjing want to protect Yanjun. “Okay, how about this? It’s a strategy that I was taught a long time ago. If you get nervous during your presentation, just look at me and pretend that you’re only talking to me alone.”

 

“Okay, I’ll only look at you.”

 

Zhangjing’s stomach flip flops.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s Yanjun’s turn to present now, and it’s clear to Zhangjing that the younger boy is nervous beyond belief. He nods at Yanjun encouragingly and gives him a thumbs-up sign. The younger boy launches into his presentation about “The Great Gatsby,” describing the various themes that pop up in the book and exploring what they mean.

 

And Yanjun’s eyes flicker to look at him often, and each time the younger boy looks at Zhangjing, he tries to convey a sense of steadiness and fortitude. _You can do this. I believe in you._ And now the younger boy is staring at him so intensely, he’s worried someone else will notice. Over the past week, Yanjun had displayed an increasing amount of affection for him during their tutoring sessions, almost as if he had taken on the role of a boyfriend.

 

It had happened so quickly, this 180 degree turn from Yanjun kissing Zhengting at the party to the younger boy doting on him, that Zhangjing isn't sure what to think anymore.

 

But a few days ago, he had overheard something while in the bathroom from two boys who were loudly gossiping. “Can you believe that Yanjun didn’t even want to kiss Zhengting at that party? He totally only did it in the end because he hates losing.”

 

“I almost didn’t believe it either. Who wouldn’t want to hook up with Zhengting? He’s crazy.”

 

"I heard Zhengting didn't even care though. He has his eye on this other freshman. Someone named Xukun or something? Seems like he's been aggressively going after him instead. Heard the drama teacher chewed him out because he actually kissed the poor boy on the lips during elective, and they weren't supposed to do the kiss scene for real."

 

After that, Zhangjing finds it a lot easier to respond to Yanjun’s touches.

 

The younger boy has finished his presentation now, and there is clapping.

 

“Wait, I have something else to say.”

 

The claps fall silent.

 

“Gatsby is really stupid in this book.” Yanjun looks nervous, and Zhangjing meets his eye when he looks over. “He spends way too much time trying to prove his love with these dumb grand gestures. He tries to buy this huge house, throw all these parties, and drive an expensive car. And in the end, he doesn’t get what he wants and ends up unhappy.”

 

A questioning murmur rises up from their classmates.

 

The younger boy takes a deep breath, and Zhangjing swears that the boy is looking straight through to his soul. “I realized that he shouldn’t need to do all these things to prove himself.”

 

Yanjun’s dark eyes and piercing gaze is trained only on him now.

 

“He just needs to be honest with himself and the boy he likes.”

 

And the younger boy is no longer talking about the book.

 

Zhangjing can feel himself starting to hyperventilate.

 

“Zhangjing, I like you a lot. Will you go on a date with me?”

 

The cat calls and hollering from the rest of the class are deafening.

 

He can feel himself blushing, his face getting hot.

 

Zhangjing nods his acceptance, and Yanjun breaks out into a huge smile.

 

_God, he’s perfect._

And all his thoughts about swearing off boys for the year fly out the window.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to check out my other works. :)
> 
> Comments, kudos, and feedback are always appreciated!
> 
> Twitter: [@loststickienote](https://twitter.com/loststickienote)  
> CuriousCat: [Requests/Prompts/Random Chat](https://curiouscat.me/loststickienote)


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